Voters and Experts Don’t Always See the Same Priorities for Alabama
It can be hard for elected officials to know what voters really want. A new initiative from the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama is trying to clue them in. Alabama Priorities will roll out this year and it starts with a survey that asks both voters and experts to rank the most important issues facing the state. According to the survey, these are the top priorities.
That list doesn’t surprise Randolph Horn. He’s a political science professor at Samford University and conducted the study with PARCA.
“As you might expect most people in the state support public education,” says Horn. “Most people are concerned about healthcare. Most people want ethical politicians and safe streets.”
Horn says they didn’t see polarization either when breaking down the responses by demographics such as political ideology, gender, race or age. Most groups put similar items in their top 10.
But there were notable differences in how experts ranked some issues compared to voters.
“To some extent these are sort of inside-baseball issues,” says Horn. For instance, Horn says many leaders are aware the state faces federal intervention because of overcrowding and other issues with Alabama’s prison system. “But our state prisons are literally out-of-sight and out-of-mind for most of the public.”
Meanwhile, several items were of more importance to voters than the experts.
“I think most people perhaps know someone who has suffered from mental health [or] addiction and lots of people are concerned about poverty, “ says Horn. “It’s an interesting question why these things would have been lower down on the experts’ list.”
Horn suggests state leaders may be making a political calculation that these issues don’t have constituencies who will turn up at the polls in large numbers. “Maybe the politicians would push those further down,” says Horn.
That split between experts and voters provides two opportunities for state leaders Horn says.
“One is to recognize that the voters care about things and to act on those things,” says Horn.
The other is for elected officials to educate the public on issues that are important but might not be on voters’ radars.
“There’s two sides of that,” says Horn.
You can read more about PARCA’s Alabama Priorities project or see a presentation of the research from PARCA’s annual meeting earlier this month.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir." He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
Auburn fires coach Hugh Freeze following 12th loss in his last 15 SEC games
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly to questionable calls.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
